Lantern Festival

We planned a big day with our Sunday off this week. First we went to Taipei for a Mexican restaurant as that is what Monica wanted to do for her birthday. After some trouble in finding the place, we were there and the food was amazing! I really enjoyed my pina colada and I would gladly go back another time. I had been craving tacos recently since I have been thinking a lot about two of our friends back home (Shawn and Tarisha) and we used to make tacos with them all the time. So the chicken quesadilla was exactly what I needed. It also was nice to get a little day drunk on such a nice day. It made me miss London and going to Barney's on a nice day.

Enjoying our frozen drinks

Next we ventured off to Ping Xi for the Lantern Festival. Took us almost two hours to get there but it was a lot of fun. There were so many people, so crowded but watching so many pretty lanterns float in the air was worth the crowd. It cost just over $3 CAD to buy our own lantern so Rick and I purchased a green one which symbolizes wishing for everything to go well in the coming year. The tradition is to write all of your hopes and dreams on your lantern before you send it off into the sky. It was a lot of fun to write on the lanterns and then we were off to send them up.

Everyone's lanterns went up without a hitch, except for Megan's which burned up. I didn't get any pictures of hers on fire because if you know me, you know that fire terrifies me. So when it started to burst into flames, I ran and hid. So when it came time for Rick and I to light ours, I started to get scared that my hands were getting too hot and I let go too early. But ours ended up going off into the air without bursting into flames. It was so peaceful to watch our lantern float away.

The trip home was far from peaceful. We ran to catch the train and when we saw it was so full, we decided to wait for the next one. Until we learned that the next train wasn't for another hour so we crammed on that train. A thirty minute train ride, being that close to other people, was not my idea of fun. But we all made it home. Regardless of the very packed train ride, it was a really fun day.